Cineplex Cinemas Vaughan

3555 Highway 7 West,

Vaughan,
ONL4L 0B6

Since the closing of the AMC 30, this theater has gone downhill. At least with the AMC so close by, Cineplex knew that customers who were dissatisfied with their service could easily go elsewhere. Now that they’re the only theater in the area, the level of service has dropped to a pathetic level.

I went with some family to a “Family Favourites” presentation of March of the Penguins last year. The movie started twenty minutes late with no explanation, and had to be re-started three times. Using my cellphone, I filmed the debacle, and was threatened by an usher, who had been alerted to my action by the projectionist, to delete the file from my phone.

I brought this to the attention of management, who offered to send me a pair of passes for the inconvenience…. I’m still waiting, almost a year later.

The outside of the theatre has changed quite a bit! Instead of the building saying “COLOSSUS”, it says “CINEPLEX” and “CINEPLEX CINEMAS” on the other side. This confused me because there are actually Cineplex theatres that are called “Cineplex Cinemas”. Don’t think the name is changing though.

This opened on February 12th, 1999 as Canada’s largest cinema. AMC took the lead 3 months later until they closed off screens in 2011 making the Colossus Canada’s largest again. I posted the grand opening ad here.

It’s just that the cinemas themselves leave little to the imagination. Yeah, the lobby in this cinema is just as pretty as the Colossus and Scotiabank closer to me in Vancouver, but the auditoriums themselves are just black boxes with screens too close to the seats.

I also find it kind of crazy that this cinema sits across a highway from the AMC Interchange 30. 49 screens total!!!

This most remarkable design is shown in a full color photo in John Lindsay’s book about Canada’s movie houses: PALACES OF THE NIGHT, on pages 131, 219 and 220. It really does look like a flying saucer has landed from the outside, and indoors the 3-story-high lobby brings back some of the majesty and dazzle that was so characteristic of the movie palaces of yore, as it takes one into a fantasy land of a space theme! If more movie houses were built like this, people would go for the experience alone.